Jorg Jansen

The Secret Of Being A Good Manager

There are thousands of books about management. And I must admit that I’ve read quite a lot of them in the last years. I’ve always had a burning imperative to be a good manager that stands in front of his people. A manager that people can trust.

It has not always been easy, I must say. When reading about so many tactics, financials and numbers, human resource policies, etc, it is sometimes easy to forget the most important part of being a manager; you’re the captain on your ship and the ship has to arrive at the port. Simple as that.

To achieve this goal, you’ll need a people on the ship doing their tasks. No better example than a flight carrier, where thousands of people run around and everybody is doing what is expected from them. Different roles, different goals!

Your main task as manager should be that everybody understands their own role and the goals that come with them. If everybody knows what to do, you don’t have to run around to tell everybody constantly what to do and to keep them busy.

The next task is to check if goals are being finished correctly. Two things can happen: It’s done right or it’s done wrong. Simple as that.

If someone has accomplished his goal in the right way, compliment him immediately and be specific on what he did right. If someone has failed to complete his goal, reprimand him and tell them how you (really) feel when this happened and be specific on what he did wrong.

Don’t make the majority mistake; don’t wait until it’s time for the yearly review of the employee to tell them what they did wrong in the last year. Tell people what’s wrong AND good when it happens! This way they can learn and if necessary adapt and change.

What’s written above is the most important part of being a manager. You can be a manager who can make beautiful spreadsheet, present like the best and communicate like Steve Jobs. But if you fail to clearly communicate what you expect for each employee and help them achieve those expectations, you already failed.

There you have it! You just saved thousands of dollars on books and courses. Now, go pay attention to your team.